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Thursday, July 26, 2012

The 2 S's at Khazana

A little bit of everything

We had never been to Khazana, but seized the opportunity to try it when a Groupon went on sale, even though our Groupon experiences have been hit and miss. Although the Groupon explicitly stated it wasn't valid for the buffet, the host steered us toward it, without even offerring us any menus.
Their buffet had a large variety of items including basmati rice, Daal Khazana, Kadi Rajasthani, Mutter Paneer, Vegetable Pakora, Fried Fish, Goat Rogan Josh, Chilly Chicken, and of course, Butter Chicken. Naan was provided at the table as well. The overall theme of the night was the 2 S's - spicy and salty. Almost everything was either extremely spicy, salty, or both which seemed to make each subsequent dish even spicier. Some dishes, such as the mutter paneer, was spicy but the spice didn't manage to permeate into the paneer which tasted bland. The fried fish suffered the same issue, with a salty batter but unseasoned fish within. The goat rogan josh had problems with consistency, with some pieces of goat being incredibly tender, and others being incredibly tough. The butter chicken had an over whelming tomato flavor and the naan was greasy and limp instead of slightly crisp and airy.

Goat Rogan Josh

Least to say, I was dying for water from all the salt and heat, however no relief could be found. Although we were provided with a glass of water each to start the night, the server kept skipping our table and refilled the water glass of everyone else in the restaurant twice before I managed to get a second glass. Despite our best efforts at flagging the servers down, they seemed too busy socializing behind the bar to notice us. They were rarely in the dining area, and appeared to take their time clearing dishes and refilling water glasses for everyone that evening. It appeared as though they had steered everyone towards the buffet that night, so there were no tables that they needed to serve food to.

Overall, I wasn't impressed with either the food or the lack of service. I'm still dying to find a restaurant with good Indian food within walking distance of our downtown home, but I guess I'll have to keep searching. The lesson learned so far is to skip future Groupons for Indian restaurants as both Groupons have been misses so far.

4 comments:

i have removed myself from ALL of the discount sites as i feel that increasingly i receive inferior service/product when i use my 'coupons'. too bad cuz in theory it is a brilliant idea, and a great way for any business to increase their customer base.

I completely agree! They should seize the opportunity to bring in new customers who might never have heard of them and impress them!

I have also had some great Groupon experiences such as with Lux Steakhouse (then again, I love that place), Delish Custom Cakes and Sweets - they didn't have enough cupcakes so they allowed people to choose other bakery items as well, and salon Groupons have always been fantastic - Mousy Browns, Eveline Charles, NVE Institute.

Too bad it seems too often the food Groupons are a way of drumming up business for restaurants that aren't doing well - eg. Ruby Dragon closed shortly after we redeemed our Groupons and Karma Indian Bistro closed before we were able to redeem our Groupon.